White Sox-Yankees Preview

The Yankees hope those trends continue as they seek a third straight win when this three-game set continues Saturday on a special day in the Bronx.

New York (65-61) will retire Hall of Fame manager Joe Torre's number before Hiroki Kuroda throws the game's first pitch. Torre guided the Yankees to the playoffs in all 12 seasons from 1995-2007, winning four World Series.

An early start Saturday figures to favor New York, which is 26-16 in day games compared to Chicago's 17-28 mark. The White Sox (59-69) are out to avoid their first five-game slide since June 19-23.

Kuroda (8-8, 3.97 ERA) retired 17 straight batters in one stretch Sunday as he gave up two runs over 6 2-3 innings to earn a 4-2 win in Tampa Bay. The right-hander is 2-2 with a 3.43 ERA in six career starts against the White Sox.

He'll be wary of Alexei Ramirez (8 for 21 against him) and Alejandro De Aza (6 for 13).

This will be his first look at Jose Abreu, who hit a three-run homer Friday in his first at-bat against New York in a 4-3 defeat. The Cuban rookie, second in the majors with 33 homers, was sidelined with an ankle injury when these teams split four meetings in Chicago in May.

New York won Friday on Martin Prado's RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning. The Yankees remained 3 ½ games of the AL's second wild card behind Seattle.

"One of the biggest moments in my career, not personal-wise. Just getting a win for the Yankees means a lot," said Prado, who drove in three runs and was obtained in a trade with Arizona on July 31.

The White Sox went 1 for 7 with runners in scoring position after going ahead on Abreu's first-inning homer.

"You get three runs in the first and not get any more. ... That's how you lose," said designated hitter Adam Dunn, who is 0 for 10 with six strikeouts in his last three games.

Carlos Sanchez had three hits after being called up from the minors earlier in the day to make his second career start. Sanchez will get the bulk of action at second base along with Leury Garcia in the wake of the deal that sent Gordon Beckham to the Los Angeles Angels on Thursday.

Chicago's starting pitcher will be another rookie in Scott Carroll (5-7, 4.99), who is 1-2 with a 6.91 ERA in five outings since the All-Star break. He got credit for Sunday's 7-5 win over Toronto despite surrendering five runs in 5 2-3 innings.

The right-hander's ERA in day games is 2.43 compared to 6.33 at night. He has never started against New York.

The Yankees' Carlos Beltran has not started three straight games due to an injured right elbow but was scheduled to do some work Friday to see if he could play in this contest.

"We hope it works, and then we get him in a game," manager Joe Girardi said.